Photo: Barbara Mensch, Courtesy Bonni Benrubi Gallery NYC

From the Desk of… is a window into the world and workspace of some of ACL’s most stylish friends.

In addition to being a talented filmmaker, designer, artist and bespoke clipboard maker, Alexander Olch is the subject of this week’s From the Desk of… column.

Mr. Olch’s description

This is the first studio I ever rented – and have been working here now for seven years. It was proudly furnished at low-budget: Desk – 1 inch thick MDF board on 2 steel sawhorses, chair from the old Chelsea flea market, long pine wood shelves with two coats of Red Devil glossy white enamel paint, Steel shelves at right from B & Z Steel Shelving in SoHo, with the same paint. Computer is still the same – Mac OS 9.2.2. Electronics all old and borrowed – Pioneer SX-737 tuner, Panasonic Easa-Phone, pro VHS deck, and speakers all from 1990. Black framed photograph (center top) is the first I ever took – in 1983 of the waves in Ogunquit, Maine.

I’m dumb. Why didn’t I go to Coachella? The Indie rock festival was this past weekend near Palm Springs and I am getting all sorts of reports of amazingness — which is prompting me to resentment, jealously and loathing. My biz partner Ali was lucky enough smart enough to go and she said the festival was stellar per usual. She also said that The National was “one of the best performances at Coachella.” She sure does love those guys from The National. A Medium Format was also out there and took some great pictures.

UPDATE: The people at Anthem tipped me off to pictures from their Coachella party, aptly dubbed La Fiesta de Fiestas.

Is there a more ubiquitous bag in New York than the canvas duffels that the bankers carry? I noticed the bags frequently around the city and would always try to find a store that stocks them. I was sure that I would be able to get one on the Upper East Side, but alas no luck. At that point I started doing research and eventually found out that the bags are made by the New Canaan, CT. based Warden-Brooks, Ltd. Around the same time as this duffel quest was going on — I was trying to come up with an idea for a holiday gift for my then client J. Press. So I decided to kill two birds with one stone and commission my very own banker bag. Working with the J. Press creative director and the people at Warden-Brooks, we designed the beige canvas bag around some great deadstock navy and red wool webbing that we found on eBay. The result is a classic J. Press bag for all occasions.

This past week J. Crew Group C.E.O. Mr. Millard Drexler was a guest on Charlie Rose. He provided great insight into the retail world, specifically that of The Gap and J. Crew Group. I was mesmerized by the interview and it made me feel as if I was friends with Mickey — or in someway connected to his inner circle. The story of how Mr. Drexler had purchased the defunct New Bedford, Mass. based workwear manufacturing company Madewell, relaunched the name as a contemporary women’s brand and then leased it to J. Crew for one dollar was particularly intriguing.